7.  On the night of 14 October 1991 a car was stolen from an unsecured car park. Early in 1992 a preliminary investigation in respect of the theft was opened against an unknown perpetrator.
8.  On 28 May 1992 the first applicant was stopped by the police while driving the car of his parents – the second and third applicants. The police established a discrepancy between the numbers on the chassis of the vehicle and those in the registration documents of the vehicle which had been issued by the Pazardzhik Traffic Police on 17 July 1973. They seized and impounded the car in order to check its registration documents and ownership. The first applicant was questioned regarding the discrepancy in the car’s registration documents both on the above date and on 4 June 1992.
9.  The investigating authorities commissioned a technical examination of the seized vehicle. In a report of 14 April 1993 the technical expert concluded that the number plate on the chassis of the car was not the original, but had been changed.
10.  On 8 June 1993 the first applicant was charged with being an accessory to the theft of the car on 14 October 1991. He was questioned on the same day and then released. A restriction was imposed on the first applicant, not to leave his place of residence without the consent of the Prosecution Office.
11.  No further investigative procedures were conducted in the course of the preliminary investigation.
12.  On 3 April 1995 the first applicant complained to the Pazardzhik District Prosecution Office about the length of the criminal proceedings. He did not receive a response.
13.  Subsequently, the first applicant lodged similar complaints with the Pazardzhik District Prosecution Office, the Pazardzhik Regional Prosecution Office, the Plovdiv Appellate Prosecution Office and the Chief Prosecutor about the length of the criminal proceedings. He did not receive a response to any of them.
14.  Sometime in 1998 the investigator in charge of the preliminary investigation died, while the assistant investigator retired. The first applicant’s case was never reassigned to another investigator.
15.  Sometime in September 1999 the first applicant lodged another complaint about the length of the criminal proceedings with the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office. In response, the Plovdiv Appellate Prosecution Office was instructed to investigate the first applicant’s complaint.
16.  In a decision of 20 October 1999 of the Pazardzhik District Prosecution Office the preliminary investigation was discontinued in respect of the first applicant as unproven. The restriction on the first applicant not to leave his place of residence without the consent of the Prosecution Office was removed.
17.  The criminal proceedings continued, against an unknown perpetrator, until 27 September 2004 when the Pazardzhik District Prosecution Office terminated them due to the expiry of the statute of limitations for the offence. In its decision, the Prosecution Office expressly noted that no investigative procedures had been conducted in the proceedings after 8 June 1993, the date on which the first applicant was arrested and charged.
18.  The car was seized and impounded by the police on 28 May 1992 in order to check its registration documents and ownership. No protocol of seizure was prepared and the second and third applicants were not given a receipt or any other document evidencing the impounding of the vehicle.
19.  The car remained impounded by the police for the duration of the preliminary investigation against the first applicant as physical evidence of the offence.
20.  On 9 November 1994 the person from whom the car had allegedly been stolen on 14 October 1991 requested possession of the vehicle.
21.  The question of returning the vehicle to the second and third applicants was raised by the first applicant in his complaints regarding the length of the criminal proceedings lodged with the Pazardzhik District Prosecution Office on 3 April 1995, the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office on 19 October 1999 and the Chief Prosecutor in September 1999. No action was taken in response to any of them.
22.  In its decision of 20 October 1999 to terminate the criminal proceedings against the first applicant the Pazardzhik District Prosecution Office noted that no protocol or other document existed to show “who, when, why and how” the vehicle of the second and third applicants had been seized and impounded. Nevertheless, the Prosecution Office ordered that the car be handed over to the person from whom it had allegedly been stolen on 14 October 1991 because it considered that, inter alia, on the basis of the investigative procedures performed during the preliminary investigation she was the owner of the vehicle. The applicants appealed against the decision in respect of the order to hand over the car to another person.
23.  On an unspecified date the police handed over the car of the second and third applicants to the person from whom it had allegedly been stolen.
24.  In a decision of 10 November 1999 the Pazardzhik Regional Prosecution Office upheld the decision of the Pazardzhik District Prosecution Office on grounds similar to those contained in the latter’s decision. The applicants appealed further.
25.  On 18 November 1999 the Plovdiv Appellate Prosecution Office quashed the above decisions of the lower-level Prosecution Offices. It found, inter alia, that it was not within their competencies to determine the ownership of the vehicle and, in view of the termination of the preliminary investigation against the first applicant, the car had to be returned to the persons from whom it had been seized. It further found that the seizure of the vehicle and the resulting impounding had been unlawful because at the time the seizure had been made no protocol to that effect had been executed. The person to whom the car had been handed over appealed against the decision.
26.  In a decision of 10 March 2000 the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office upheld the decision of the Plovdiv Appellate Prosecution Office on grounds similar to those contained in the latter’s decision.
27.  The car was returned to the second and third applicants on 19 May 2000. As a result of the period of impounding it had been damaged – its paintwork had deteriorated and the radiator was cracked. Parts of the car were also missing, such as two spark plugs and cables, the left headlight, the spare tyre, the indicators, the cover of the right back brake light, the door handles and other things. They estimated the damage to be worth around 100 Bulgarian levs (approximately 51 euros). The first applicant, who signed the protocol of transfer, made a reservation that he would make a further assessment of the damage caused to the vehicle and that a subsequent claim might be filed against the District Prosecution Office in that respect.
28.  The second and third applicants did not initiate any action to seek compensation for the alleged damage caused to the vehicle.